Description

Summary: 1 bronze flanged axehead with traces of coarse cloth visible on the blade, found with a primary male inhumation (near the shoulders) in Bowl Barrow Wilsford G5, excavated by William Cunnington

Research results

A Bronze Age copper alloy flanged axehead, found by William Cunnington at Bush Barrow (Wilsford G5) in 1808. Found in front of the crouched primary inhumation, near their shoulder. The axehead is of the British type Willerby, with low flanges and a pronouncedly narrowed body, a trend that developed in the type as time went on and which results in an extremely pronounced cutting edge. The differential corrosion visible on the axehead may suggest that it was hafted at the time of burial, whilst the impression of fabric left in the corrosion near the blade suggests that it had been carefully wrapped. This careful treatment of the axehead is perhaps related to the fact that axeheads are extremely rare as early bronze age burial goods, and appear to be exclusively linked to very high status graves.

The Bush Barrow grave is discussed in detail by Needham et al. (2010), who return to Cunnington and Hoare's original notes and publications in order to reassess recontructions of the primary inhumation's layout. They argue for a more typical crouched inhumation, led on its left side, and possition the grave goods accordingly based on Cunnington's descriptions. Their new reconstruction highlights the distance of a small group of rivets and fragments from the rest of the group. Previously interpretted as a helmet or alidade, they reinterpret these as the remains of a dagger with a studded hilt, typical of a period earlier than the rest of the assemblage and suggesting the burial may have disturbed an earlier inhumation.

This object was examined as part of the research published in Ritual in Early Bronze Age Grave Goods; a six-year research project carried out by Professor John Hunter and Dr Anne Woodward and funded by the Leverhulme Trust. Aided by a large number of other specialists the pair undertood an exhuastive study examining over 1000 objects held in 13 museums across the country in order to provide an extensive overview of burial practices in the period and identify regional practices.